Infiltrating a Deathwatch Outpost?

[Midwest]

Given the presence and tolerance of mysterious applicants with no official paperwork or background (Black Shields), how possible would it be for a force like Alpha Legion or such to infiltrate and take over a Deathwatch base?

 

Is it possible for a Black Shield to rise high enough to become a Watch Captain or Master? Could a single AL operate show up and over time work their way into a command position that would then allow them to open a station to an abnormally high number of other Black Shields - be they "actual" Black Shields or AL operatives disguised as more 'typical' DW Marines with fake or obscure heraldry that the other members would not be able to verify as being fraudulent?

 

And I'm not necessarily thinking "take over" in the sense of turning an entire base to Chaos or whatever, but maybe something more subtle as guiding the station's activities to take care of Xenos threats in ways that would benefit the parent/allied CSM forces, or subtly make things worse for Imperial forces (like intentionally taking out an Exodite colony to draw the now enemy-less Orks sharing the same planet to Waaagh into a nearby Imperial system, or destroying an Eldar craftworld that would have otherwise been in position two centuries later to stop a CSM invasion from the Maelstrom).

 

I've been kinda wanting to write about such a thing, story-wise, but I don't have the DW codex yet and wasn't sure if there's actual Inquisition controls or such that would prevent any kind of exploitation of the whole Black Shield concept.

[Xin Ceithan]

While I would argue that the Deathwatch probably do not accept Applicants at face value (they are Inquisiton after all), the very nature of the DW leaves them wide open for a carefully planed infiltration. The Inquisiton itself has it's fair share of obscurities and secrets and the imperial bureaucracy so vast, that there probably opportunities galore. Even among the Adeptus Astartes and the Ordos, you can not just google an applicants background and there are enough loyalist chapters which keep secrets from the Watch (Dark Angels for example), so a careful operative would not stand out from the beginning. Longterm undercover ops and reaching higher command structures are trickier, but not impossible. We have also seen AL use extensive modification and psychic intervention / conditioning in the novels and codices which only ads further options. And these are just the things from the top of my mind.

[Totentanzen]

I could see this as a possibility but considering the nature of the vigil I doubt anything could really be done? To even get to the deathwatch is a feat (fate) in an of itself. To make to the point where you oversaw a base? Even a black shield surely would be closely watched. I know they need bodies but for sure they arn't careless. I guess after reading through the codex I would be hesitant to think that no one in the faction would be able to find out the heretic.

[robofish7591]

Hmm... That is an interesting question. I would imagine that blackshields that just show up and ask to join are watched pretty carefully for the safety of all the marines involved. Especially since blackshields are sort of hinted at possibly being loyalists from chapters that went renegade, there could be bad blood between chapters that fought in the Badab war for example so having a captain or even sergeant keeping an eye on their squad to prevent tension within the fortress makes sense to me at least. I also don't think a blackshield would be put in a command role because of the above, they don't really know who he is. I think blackshields could hold some sway outside of the chain of command within the fortress if they have been there long enough and have shown to be trustworthy, kind of like how dreadnoughts are awakened when chapters need advice, if a blackshield was experienced or old enough I could see a situation like that being plausible. Plus it wouldn't be unlike the Alpha Legion to try a long con like that .

So yes, I think it could happen, but it would be extremely difficult. I think the rule of cool can be applied here, its a big galaxy so I'm sure something like that could happen in your story... I say go for it!

[Totentanzen]

I just imagine the con going on so long that the Alpha legion forgets about it and the infiltrator just gets killed in battle

[Irbis]

Doesn't the DW have librarians screening the force regularly watching for psychic or xeno corruption? Would such operative be able to hide secrets from actual psyker?

 

Then there is the fact the DW explicitly sends a lot of messages out to parent chapters updating them on members or asking for more recruits. Even if AL operative picked obscure chapter, all it would take for deconspiration would be DW watch master sending message like 'hey, brother Totallynotspyicus is doing good job, have some more of them?'. Yes, fleet based chapters can be out of communication range for years or even decades, but eventually total lack of interest of brother X in the fate of his brothers would raise some eyebrows.

 

Also, back to starting premise. I personally think the whole 'AL infiltration' shtick is really stupid. Book 6, Inferno, gives really good example why. There, a force of Traitor Legionaries loyal to Malcador tries to infiltrate Forge World of Xana as Sons of Horus. The illustration notes that the supposed SoH infantry captain has the markings of tank ace and the SoH "techmarine" has totally wrong rank badge for his gear, and it doesn't come out instantly because Xana is really isolated and the magos there had little dealing with SoH. If actual legionaries who fought together with Luna Wolves get so much wrong, I really don't expect AL legionnaire to be able to pretend he is member of Codex compliant chapter. Simply being confused on some small detail every Codex marine is supposed to know would instantly raise suspicion. "So, in your Chapter, second company wears terminator armour? Why?"...

[Castellan Wulfrik]

Ultimately, what would it achieve? While you can come up with certain scenario's in which wiping out a Xenos force would benefit Chaos more than the Imperium there are just better targets for infiltration that can give them more influence. Any attempts to use the forces of the Deathwatch in against a non-Xenos target would instantly arouse the suspicion of the Ordo Xenos and the ruse would be up. Even if they simply wanted to weaken the Deathwatch to make the Imperium more vulnerable to Xenos threats that doesn't help Chaos, they don't want humanity to necessarily lose against Xenos because humanity makes better pawns than most other races. In addition to the difficulty's already mentioned by others you also have to consider that the Watch Stations and Fortresses themselves are an obstacle to infiltration and likely have the highest level of safeguards to prevent any misuse of their facilities. It's not impossible, it's just not practical enough to realistically expect someone to bother trying much less succeed. 

[MajorNese]

Blunt-force legions messing up the livery thing isn't surprising, but AL specializes on the whole thing, even infiltrating other legions under the nose of their primarch. Faking communication (especially for a standard template codex chapter) wouldn't be hard, it's one of their most-used skills. There are stories where AL operatives diverted enemy out-on-mission companies to deathtraps, and hid the fact of their destruction from their chapter. Having one guy to answer "Yes, totallynotaspyicus is a great guy, how's he doin?" wouldn't be an obstacle.

 

The core question:

Ultimately, what would it achieve?

At least pre-heresy Alpha Legion was more qualified to counter xenos threats than most legions. When cleaning an ork-infested region, they demoralized the orks so far that they fled into open space, to be easily annihilated. When facing other xenos, they similarly turn the table by understanding how they work, and using it against them. If they need xenos hunter specialists, they'll just do it themselves. Also, even during the heresy, they manipulated xenos to attack their opponents, and do the work for them. Only reason to infiltrate a DW facility would be to get what's stored there, or to destroy them, or both. Or, with their rising hubris and needlessly complex schemes, to do it just because they can.

[Captain Boyle]

I think in the Deathwatch RPG Core Rule Book, it talks about Blackshields joining up. If I remember correctly, a Space Marine can petition the Commander of a Watch Fortress for entry and their origin is discussed only with the Commander and then their past is almost never questioned. Sometimes they don't even offer their story to the Commander and just ask for a chance to serve. The Commander can refuse but its rare. An experienced marine is a hard resource to turn down.

 

That'd be the easiest way to get one Infiltraitor in to a fprtress. The other option is for the Alpha Legion to intercept and kill a marine who was joining the Death Watch and take their place.

[MajorNese]

Another part would be, if the chaos taint wouldn't be detectable. Pre-heresy, the whole thing would be relatively easy to pull off, but post-heresy they'd have to send someone untainted enough to pass security screenings (at the least the local librarian), but determined enough to pull it off. At least they aren't all mutated, as going to ground in imperial territory after the heresy has its advantages.

 

The other option is for the Alpha Legion to intercept and kill a marine who was joining the Death Watch and take their place.

...which would be harder to pull off, but possible, while opening up more career options than going blackshield.

[Vel'Cona]

I think a renegade chapter sneaking a mole into the DW as a Blackshield is reasonably likely since they're not necessarily heretics/CSMs.  The goal could be to distract the DW away from Xenos the renegades are working with/stealing from etc. or some other misdirection type activity.  As for positions of power, it's specifically mentioned that there's a Blackshield Watch Sergeant and a Blackshield Dreadnought (generally highly respected for their wisdom/age) in the DW codex, so it's reasonable to assume a Blackshield could get to Watch Captain or even Master status.